The club case study

S p o r t s & L e i s u r e

Saif Naser Saleh Ahmed

Almalahi(H00210789)

Abdullah Mohammed Al

Qaydi(H00216561)

CIG

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Introduction page 2

History page 3

Interview page 4-5

Map page 6-7

Picture of the trip page 8-14

Conclusion page 15

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On a Wednesday evening, last week at 3:00 PM, we went out to

visit The Club with Mr. Hedley Butterfield. The Club is an old club that

was established in 1962. We met with the administrator Mr. Mike; he

was very respectful and gracious enough to tell us all the information we

needed. Initially he welcomed us and then we did a short interview with

him. He accepted all the questions with an open mind and explained to

us all the details about the Club; after that Mr. Hedley who is a member

in the club took us on a tour around the Club; he showed us some

pictures that tell the history of the Club in the reception and then we

took some photos with him. In conclusion, it was a fun trip and

interesting and we hope to get a membership and visit that place again in

the near future.

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We asked Mr. Mike about how the Club was established in 1962

and how they got the idea to construct the Club. The Club was supported

by Sheikh Shakhboot AlNahyan and given to them in 1962 where they

were located by the ports. In 1967 Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan gifted them

a land which is where they are currently located. At that time they had

about 50 members but today they have approximately 4,500 .The

members are from 84 countries, 26 of them are formal ambassadors,

while nearly 180 of the members are Emirati locals.

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We asked the manager about 15 questions, after knowing about the

history of the club we asked him about the membership and how much

was the cost to be a

member in the Club, he

said the membership is

for all nationalities,

however it is only by

invitation, and he

explained that who

wants to join the Club,

they have to apply first,

then their application

will be reviewed then

can be accepted or denied, as it depends on the demand while keeping in

mind their resources and the membership cost to join is 3800 dirhams

and the member need to pay around 4100 dirhams after joining yearly.

Afterward, we asked him about the system of invitation to friends of the

members. He answered that there are two ways, one if the invitation and

you are not a member to use the facilities there is a guest fee; however if

a member invited a friend there will be no charges whoever they were,

but with just a call before for notice, only if they are attending a

restaurant or sailing and diving which means they have to pay a little

extra. Furthermore we asked the manager about the financial system of

the Club and the manager replied that the land was gifted by the late His

Highness Sheikh Zayed and they are grateful for that, and since then, the

development and the construction was run by the profits of the

memberships. However, they do have a large variety of activities such as

“snooker, badminton, squash, football, volleyball, tennis, sailing” and

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much more. We asked the manager about the future plans for the Club

and he said that their vision is to support the efforts of the government

for their future plan of Abu Dhabi 2030, and their behavior is running in

parallel to it, as they also contributed the Alnadi tower in the beginning

of this year, it has a large viewing deck that allows you to see almost the

whole of Cornish, Al Reem Island and Al saadiyat Island ; he also talked

about the non-Emirati old members and said that many members said if

the Club did not exist at that time they would be gone back to their

countries, so the Club is offering many & various amounts of facilities

which afterwards they can contribute to the development of Abu Dhabi

as they have members from all the sectors and he believes that their job

of providing pleasure and comfort so when they go back to their work in

Sunday feeling refreshed and it continues over the year as their goal to

support a larger slice of the society of Abu Dhabi. We then asked him

about the relation of calling the Club the British Club. He answered that

it’s historical; however he denied immediately that it was never the

British Club he said because of the multi nationalities it should be called

the international club.

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The first map shows all the sites in the Club which was drawn 9 years ago by Mr.

Hedley’s wife Mrs. Mary Butterfield; who described the areas in details. Many

changes happened since the map was drawn that’s why we inserted the new map

version to see the changes; we will explain some of these changes.

The Vista offers sea views, the place is great and consistent and attractive and the

food service was fine. There is an international menu and there are Omani shrimps

and everything you may like. The place is considered one of the best places for the

family for many reasons; the most important is that it has a calm environment and

stays away from loud places (opening hours: Sun-Sat 12pm to 1am)

The Club’s breadth of sports and fitness facilities are among the most extensive in

Abu Dhabi. The purpose built health complex includes a fully equipped gym,

fitness studio and offers members personal training, programmer management and

full fitness assessments. The sports complex features four flood-lit tennis courts,

two squash courts and badminton court. Additionally, the Club offers members

swimming, sailing, and scuba diving, volleyball and basketball facilities.

A. There was a water front cabin, currently there is Vista.

B. There was ramp for boats, currently there is the deck.

C. Tennis courts and Club section.

D. Fitness.

E. Sports Complex

F. Family friendly Club.

G. Family Room.

H. Private room.

I. Main hall (reception).

J. Sailing Club.

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In conclusion, we found that the Club was worth visiting and it is

very impressive. We would like to mention that Mr. Mike helped us a lot

in the interview and answered all of the questions in a proper way. The

two of us want to have a membership in the Club after hearing about it

in the next few years. We also learned many other things such as the

history, rules and facilities. We wish the best for the Club and hope it

continues developing.